"He's done a tremendous amount of things. Like most musicians at that particular time he had a lot of other demons that he had to overcome, not only with his great music but his story behind his life," he said.

"His legacy was something we thought was very interesting. We went through all of that to get all of the information."

Billed as the uncensored story based upon true events of the life and music of Mr. Excitement, "Lonely Teardrops" features a cast of mostly members of SPAA Theatre's Actors Troupe and includes residents of Chicago Heights and Park Forest.

"We have some new talent. In fact, one of the gentlemen is a new member to our team because he actually looks like a young Jackie Wilson and he sings really, really well so we brought him aboard to do this," said Wilkins about Kevin Mosley, of Richton Park.

"I think that's going to make a real difference."

Wilkins, founder and chief executive officer of SPAA, said "Lonely Teardrops" takes him back to musical favorites.

"I'd old-school for life. That's the music I grew up with so I've always been a Jackie Wilson fan along with Aretha Franklin, the Temptations, Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. I just simply grew up with that so I was already knowledgeable," said Wilkins about putting together "Lonely Teardrops."

"Then researching the history just makes it even better. A lot of people who are interested in music from the 1960s and that era will already know and be familiar. There's so much we put into this production that would also interest millennials to those who are older or even younger.

"It talks about some of the struggles they had during their teenage life and homelessness issues and alcohol and drug use."

SPAA Theatre not only presents productions but fosters development in the craft through its actors troupe.

"We allow folks to come in who are interested in community theater so anybody who has not necessarily the skills but has desire to act or if they want to work in other capacities in theater such as building sets, helping with production and writing some of the productions," said Wilkins, of Park Forest.

"We have a number of other productions that we're working on now for the season since we're just beginning our fourth season, which goes until May of 2018."

SPAA Theatre's fourth season also includes "The Mask" on Aug. 26 about relationships and the women who hide behind masks and "Life is a Song Worth Singing: The Teddy Pendergrass Story" from Sept. 23-24.

Also coming up later this season are "A Change Is Gonna Come: The Sam Cooke Story" from Oct. 21-22, a blues salute to veterans on Nov. 11, "It's a Wonderful World in the Hood" from Dec. 9-10 and "The Curtis Mayfield Story" from Jan. 20-21.